Bedford Driving Lessons

Sales of diesel cars in Britain have overtaken petrol-driven vehicles for the first time, as drivers choose fuel efficiency over speed, research has shown. Once only fit for the slow lane, diesel cars were a record 50.6 per cent of new car registrations in July, rising 11.8 per cent while petrol car registrations declined by 13.2 per cent, as consumers tightened their belts fearful of a double dip recession. AFV, or alternative fuel vehicles rose 53 per cent to take 1.4 per cent of the market share, the survey by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) found. With cash-strapped Britons looking at all aspects of their household budgets, the fact that a diesel engine is 15% to 20% more fuel efficient than its petrol equivalent is a major selling point. Nervous motorists held off buying new cars in July with car registrations as a whole down 13.2 per cent. Petrol car registrations, which benefited from the government’s scrappage scheme which stopped accepting new orders in March, were down sharply. Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive, said: ‘A drop in private registrations compared to the scrappage-fuelled months of 2009 was expected and has brought the first market decline for 12 months. ‘Subdued consumer confidence and a still fragile economic recovery make the outlook for the remainder of 2010 challenging, but a stronger than expected first half means full-year volumes are still forecast to exceed 2009′s total.’ Diesel fuel has become more popular as technology has improved. The latest figures show diesel cars are at their most popular since they first hit British shores in large numbers after the second world war. The invention of turbo-charged direct injection (TDI) engines in the 1980s contributed to the rise in popularity. More